La Satisfactoria Caída De Vinicius Jr — Transcript

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1. 0:00Vinicius Junior started Saturday on the
2. 0:02bench, came on in the second half, and
3. 0:04by the 72nd minute was already sent off
4. 0:06, looking like he wanted to go after
5. 0:07the referee. The best part is how it
6. 0:09happened. Bellingham breaks away,
7. 0:11Vinicius taps it in, and Mourinho runs
8. 0:13out to celebrate the 2-0. But then the
9. 0:16VAR reviews it. It turns out that in
10. 0:18the previous play, Vinicius had pulled
11. 0:20Nazan Saliva's hair. Goal disallowed
12. 0:22and a straight red card. Rudiger had to
13. 0:24step in to protect the referee from his
14. 0:26own teammate. Madrid won anyway, 1-0
15. 0:29with a goal from Jan Diomande, the kid
16. 0:31half the fans want to see instead of
17. 0:33Vinicius. And it's not just the fans;
18. 0:35one outlet talks about an untenable
19. 0:37situation and another describes him as
20. 0:39one of the three shadows of the derby.
21. 0:41According to Cadenaser, in the Madrid
22. 0:43locker room, they think Vinicius stayed
23. 0:44at the club, but mentally he's already
24. 0:46left. And all this is happening with a
25. 0:48new contract signed two months ago that
26. 0:50ties him to Madrid until 2032. So today
27. 0:53we're going to do something simple.
28. 0:55We're going to go over Vinicius's
29. 0:57excuses one by one with data. There are
30. 0:59five excuses, and I'll warn you right
31. 1:01now. None of them survive the analysis.
32. 1:04Stay until the end because the fifth
33. 1:05one is the one that hurts the most.
34. 1:07First, the numbers, because the problem
35. 1:09is what they say, not how it looks.
36. 1:11Eight games this season, one goal and
37. 1:13three assists. According to AS, it's
38. 1:15his worst start to a season since the
39. 1:17pandemic, and we're talking about a
40. 1:18player who was in the 2024 FIFA FIFPRO
41. 1:20World 11. And it's not that he's
42. 1:23playing little; he has 652 minutes and
43. 1:24is the fourth most-used player at
44. 1:26Madrid. Mourinho has started him,
45. 1:28defended him, and given him consistency
46. 1:30. There isn't a single argument about a
47. 1:32lack of minutes, which is why the first
48. 1:34excuse falls apart on its own. A bit of
49. 1:36context. Mourinho's Madrid is third in
50. 1:38the league with 18 points, six behind
51. 1:40Barcelona, who remain unbeaten. They
52. 1:43already fell in the derby against
53. 1:44Atlético 2-1, and the team is still
54. 1:46looking for its identity, with all the
55. 1:48focus aimed at the number seven. And
56. 1:50before we continue, a clarification.
57. 1:52I'm not here to say Vinicius is bad;
58. 1:54I'm here to say he’s run out of
59. 1:55people to blame. When a player of this
60. 1:57level goes eight games like this, it
61. 1:59would be strange to keep looking
62. 2:01outside for what might be inside.
63. 2:02Excuse number one. The coach doesn't
64. 2:04trust me. This is the easiest one to
65. 2:06debunk. Vinicius has had them all:
66. 2:08Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa, and
67. 2:11now Mourinho. And of all of them,
68. 2:13Mourinho is the one who has defended
69. 2:14him the most in public, even when he
70. 2:16had to bench him. Mourinho has said it
71. 2:18hurts him to see that Vinicius wants to
72. 2:20do well but can't, that his best
73. 2:22version will come when he starts
74. 2:24scoring goals, and that meritocracy
75. 2:25matters, but every player needs a
76. 2:27different path to return to their level
77. 2:29. That isn't a coach who has it in for
78. 2:32you; it's a coach who gives you every
79. 2:34opportunity and even moves you to the
80. 2:35bench, not to punish you, but to help
81. 2:37you get out of a slump. Against
82. 2:39Villarreal, in fact, he left him out of
83. 2:41the starting eleven so he could catch
84. 2:42his breath. And it's not just Mourinho
85. 2:44on the national team; Ancelotti, the
86. 2:46same one who turned him into a star at
87. 2:48Madrid, also asks for patience. He says
88. 2:50he isn't at his best, that the season
89. 2:52is just beginning, but that he remains
90. 2:54a key player for Brazil. And keep an
91. 2:56eye on what happened in Brazil. Against
92. 2:58Australia he scored a penalty and
93. 2:59participated in another goal, but
94. 3:00according to Sports Illustrated he had
95. 3:02another unconvincing performance and
96. 3:03came off after an hour. Between
97. 3:06Australia and India he totaled just one
98. 3:08goal in 192 minutes. Two coaches, two
99. 3:10teams, the same message. We trust in
100. 3:13you. When all the coaches defend you
101. 3:15and the problem persists, maybe the
102. 3:17problem isn't the coach. Excuse number
103. 3:19one, dismissed. Let's move on to the
104. 3:21second one, which involves a lot of
105. 3:22money. Excuse number two, the contract.
106. 3:25Here we have to acknowledge something.
107. 3:26The renewal was a soap opera. Almost a
108. 3:28year and a half of negotiations,
109. 3:30Arsenal hovering around, and exit
110. 3:31rumors. Many people said, "When he
111. 3:33signs, the pressure will be off and
112. 3:35he'll play again." Well, he signed on
113. 3:37August 6th through 2032. According to
114. 3:40reports, his salary went from about
115. 3:4217.5 million to a figure between 22 and
116. 3:4425 million a year. He asked for close
117. 3:47to 30 and didn't get it, but he ended
118. 3:49up as the second highest-paid on the
119. 3:51squad behind Mbappe. The important
120. 3:53thing is this. The uncertainty is over.
121. 3:55There are no more rumors about Arsenal,
122. 3:57no more negotiations, and nothing left
123. 3:59to distract him. And his performance
124. 4:01didn't just fail to improve; it
125. 4:02worsened. That is not a contract
126. 4:04problem. The excuse here is no longer "
127. 4:06I don't know if I'm staying"; now it is
128. 4:08"I stayed and I'm not performing." And
129. 4:10that is a very different conversation,
130. 4:11because when a player gets what they
131. 4:13ask for, the demand increases, it
132. 4:15doesn't decrease. And today the
133. 4:17Bernabéu is reminding him of that.
134. 4:19Think of it this way. If you sign until
135. 4:212032 and make over 20 million a year,
136. 4:23the uncertainty excuse only lasts a
137. 4:26week. After that, what you see on the
138. 4:29pitch is you, with no rumors involved
139. 4:30and no one else to blame. Excuse number
140. 4:33three. Mbappé is taking away my space.
141. 4:36This one has the most substance, so we
142. 4:37have to be fair. Several analysts noted
143. 4:40that Mbappé cuts in from the left a
144. 4:42lot, right where Vinicius is most
145. 4:44dangerous. And it's true that when they
146. 4:45share that zone, they get in each
147. 4:46other's way. Vinicius performs when he
148. 4:48receives the ball facing the defender
149. 4:50with space to accelerate and teammates
150. 4:52nearby to combine with. If he has
151. 4:54Mbappé on top of him, that space
152. 4:55disappears, and so do the passing
153. 4:57options. It is a real tactical problem
154. 4:59and I'm not going to deny it. But look
155. 5:01at what happened against Villarreal.
156. 5:03Mourinho played Diomande on the left
157. 5:05alongside Mbappé, Bellingham, and
158. 5:06Güller. And Diomande didn't complain
159. 5:08about the space, he attacked it. He was
160. 5:11the best player in the match and scored
161. 5:12his first goal for Madrid. In the Goal
162. 5:15ratings, Diomande got a 9 out of 10 and
163. 5:17Mbappé a five. I'm not saying Diomande
164. 5:19is better than Vinicius. I'm saying
165. 5:21that if the problem were only the space
166. 5:23, Diomande would have had it too, and
167. 5:25he didn't. Furthermore, in the derby,
168. 5:28in just 43 minutes of play, Diomande
169. 5:30attempted six dribbles, completed four,
170. 5:32and created a goal-scoring chance. With
171. 5:34fewer minutes and less of a name, he
172. 5:36did more than Vinicius, according to
173. 5:38many fans. That really complicates the
174. 5:40space excuse. There is a real tactical
175. 5:42coexistence problem and Mourinho has to
176. 5:44solve it, but that problem doesn't
177. 5:46explain the booing, the one goal in
178. 5:48eight games, or the concern of his own
179. 5:50teammates. Excuse three, half-valid but
180. 5:52insufficient. And keep in mind that
181. 5:54it's up to Mourinho to solve it. A
182. 5:56coach who has won everything cannot
183. 5:58afford to have his most expensive
184. 5:59player fighting for the same zone as
185. 6:01another superstar. But solving the
186. 6:03space issue is not the same as solving
187. 6:05the mindset, and on Saturday, we saw
188. 6:07which of the two was missing. Excuse
189. 6:09number four, the fans and the pressure.
190. 6:11According to Mundo Deportivo, Vinicius
191. 6:13has been booed in every match he has
192. 6:15played at the Bernabéu this season.
193. 6:18And the usual defense is that the
194. 6:19Bernabéu is a very demanding crowd
195. 6:21that doesn't forgive. But look at the
196. 6:23order of events. First came the numbers
197. 6:25, and then the whistles. Not the other
198. 6:27way around. When you don't score, don't
199. 6:29assist, don't beat defenders, and on
200. 6:31top of that get sent off for pulling an
201. 6:32opponent's hair, it's hard for people
202. 6:34to applaud you. And it's not just the
203. 6:36Bernabéu. Look at the World Cup. Four
204. 6:38goals and one assist in total. All of
205. 6:40them in the group stage. In the
206. 6:42knockout rounds, he didn't contribute a
207. 6:44goal or an assist. Brazil's best player
208. 6:46in the groups disappeared when the
209. 6:47tournament got serious. Brazil fell 2-1
210. 6:50to Norway in the round of 16 with a
211. 6:51brace from Haaland. It was their
212. 6:54earliest elimination since 1990, and
213. 6:56Vinicius apologized for the huge
214. 6:58frustration, saying they had a strong
215. 7:00enough team to go further. The pressure
216. 7:03is real, but it's part of the job when
217. 7:05you're the star of one of the best
218. 7:07teams in the world and earn what you
219. 7:08earn. And this is what people forget.
220. 7:11When you're doing well, pressure pushes
221. 7:12you forward. When you're doing poorly,
222. 7:14it crushes you. And today it seems it
223. 7:16is crushing him. Besides, this season
224. 7:18there was extra noise. The shirt in
225. 7:20support of Ceuta worn by Mbappé, Até,
226. 7:22and Vinicius, which a segment of the
227. 7:24fans did not receive well. That isn't
228. 7:27performance, but it is fuel for the
229. 7:28stands to have less patience with him.
230. 7:31Excuse number five. They provoke me.
231. 7:33The referee is the one Vinicius has
232. 7:35used most over the years, and we must
233. 7:37be careful here. Vinicius has suffered
234. 7:39racist insults in stadiums. That is
235. 7:41true. It is unfair and it is not an
236. 7:43excuse. It is a separate problem that
237. 7:45deserves its own video. But what
238. 7:46happened on Saturday has nothing to do
239. 7:48with that. No one provoked him. There
240. 7:50was no insult, no kick, no shove. He
241. 7:53pulled an opponent's hair in the middle
242. 7:55of play. VAR saw it, the referee
243. 7:57penalized it, and there is not much
244. 7:58more to discuss. And the reaction,
245. 8:00instead of accepting the error, was to
246. 8:02go after the referee. Rüdiger had to
247. 8:04step in to protect the official—a
248. 8:06defender calming his own star. That
249. 8:08image says more about Madrid's current
250. 8:10state than any statistic. It must be
251. 8:12said, in the derby against Atlético,
252. 8:14he accepted his substitution by Mauro
253. 8:16without protesting, something the media
254. 8:17highlighted because he had reacted
255. 8:19poorly with Xabi Alonso in the Clásico
256. 8:21. That was maturity and looked like a
257. 8:24step forward, but weeks later he loses
258. 8:26his head over a foul that wasn't even
259. 8:28necessary in a play that ended in a
260. 8:29goal. That is what is most annoying—
261. 8:32that he didn't need to do it. He had
262. 8:33the goal served on a platter and he
263. 8:35threw it all away for a hair pull. And
264. 8:36here comes the part that almost no one
265. 8:38says out loud. Vinicius doesn't need to
266. 8:40be defended anymore. The club, the
267. 8:42coaches, the national team, and half
268. 8:44the fan base have defended him for
269. 8:46years. What he needs is a game where no
270. 8:48one has to defend him because he was
271. 8:50simply the best. And the schedule is
272. 8:52unforgiving. Wednesday the Champions
273. 8:55League against Roma, and on October
274. 8:5625th, the first Clásico of the season
275. 8:58against a Barcelona side that's leading
276. 8:59and unbeaten. Mourinho had a plan: rest
277. 9:03Vinicius against Villarreal to have him
278. 9:04fresh for the Clásico. The plan lasted
279. 9:07less than half an hour. He came on
280. 9:08after halftime, had a goal disallowed,
281. 9:10and was sent off in the 72nd minute.
282. 9:13Now we have to see if the red card
283. 9:14costs him important matches and if the
284. 9:16suspension reaches the Clásico. What
285. 9:18is certain is that Mourinho now has an
286. 9:19extra problem. And there is a third
287. 9:21player involved, Diomande. Against
288. 9:23Villarreal, he scored the winning goal
289. 9:25and had the team's highest rating.
290. 9:26Every match that Vinicius doesn't
291. 9:28perform is another argument for the new
292. 9:31kid, and as much as Mourinho defends
293. 9:33him, his patience is not unlimited. If
294. 9:35you think about it, it's a cruel
295. 9:36paradox. Madrid held the 1-0 lead
296. 9:38without their star for the last 20
297. 9:40minutes and didn't collapse. When you
298. 9:42win without your star, the star stops
299. 9:44being indispensable. And at Madrid,
300. 9:46that is extremely dangerous. So, the
301. 9:48question is no longer what is wrong
302. 9:50with Vinicius, but how much longer the
303. 9:51narrative that it's all someone else's
304. 9:53fault can hold up. Because the calendar
305. 9:56doesn't wait, the Clásico is coming,
306. 9:58and there will be no contract, no coach
307. 10:00, and no space to serve as a shield: it
308. 10:02will just be the match and him. Because
309. 10:04if this story proves anything, it's
310. 10:06that talent was never the problem.
311. 10:08Coaches change, contracts are signed,
312. 10:10rivals provoke, and in the end, the
313. 10:12only one left on the field is him. And
314. 10:14that is what makes all of this so hard
315. 10:16to watch.